MANILA, Philippines - John Carter’s mission is not to save the day and win the girl. No, that would be too easy. Rather, his herculean task as he makes his big leap from the pages of Edgar Rice Burroughs 100-year-old novels and into the big screen is to both win the new generation of film “critics” over and launch Taylor Kitsch as the next big action star.
Because based on film trailers and stills, it’s easy to dismiss director Adam Stanton’s “John Carter” as another all-special effects action film that borrows elements from some of the more successful sci-fi films of the past decade. And in some moments, it seemingly does. When we first meet John Carter, he is a 19th century Virginia man who has seen his share of action in the Civil War and is apparently being “recruited” to fight once again for a cause even though Carter insists that whatever debt he has to society, it is already paid in full.
Refusing to play cowboys and Indians, Carter is put behind bars. A daring escape and character development after, Carter finds a medallion in a cave and it transports him to Mars or Barsoom to the locals. His first encounter is with a six-limbed race of warriors led by Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) who misunderstands Carter’s name as “Virginia.” And much like how it was back on Earth, Carter finds himself in the middle of a fight once more as he involves himself in a long-standing feud between the human-like tribes Helium and Zodanga. This is when he meets the fairest in the land, Helium’s Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins).
The story follows the formula from this point: boy meets girl, boy misses home, boy decides to stay. But their love story would not be without its antagonist in Matai Shang (Mark Strong), leader of the Holy Therns, who manipulates the Prince of Zodanga Sab Than (Dominic West) into a tribe-wiping frenzy.
With so much story to tell, Stanton thankfully didn’t make it dreary as I personally didn’t notice that the 130 minute-running time was up. I’m still not a fan of 3D films though and I feel that simple 2D would have sufficed for “John Carter” since, as a relatively newcomer, the titular character needs to establish his story first and all the special effects merely diverted my attention at times. While there were really no twists that would make you go “whoah” in the first two hours, the last 10 minutes should at least make everything more interesting and give the audience something to anticipate especially if the sequels—yes, plural—pushes through.
But is this one enough to make Taylor Kitsch a credible action star? Perhaps it will, so long as he, as his John Carter character does, recognizes exactly where he is.
"John Carter" opens here today, March 9 in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and regular theatres.